No valid driver license offense getting immigrants deported in Collier

By TARA E. McLAUGHLIN
Posted April 23, 2011 at 5 p.m.

NAPLES — Achsah Ortiz said goodbye to her husband in a way she never imagined she’d have to — in a detention center days before he boarded a one-way flight to Mexico.

He had lived quietly under the radar in the United States for 10 years without immigration documentation. One day last fall, Guillermo Ortiz Juarez, then 30, made a costly mistake.

He got behind the wheel of his Ford Mustang after drinking. He swerved into a mailbox near his home in Naples Park and walked away from the car that was stuck in a swale. His charges, including a DUI, were misdemeanors, but his punishment was more than fines and driving restrictions.

He was separated from his wife and 7-year-old daughter and sent back to Mexico without knowing if the family would ever be reunited.

His departure left two American citizens heartbroken, facing hunger and financial insecurity.

“He’s our sole provider,â€